Putting the Pieces Together: How the Wizards Should Build Their Next Championship Team

I do think the Pistons are a great model to aspire towards, however we need to keep in mind that they were an elite defensive outfit. Not just because of Ben Wallace, but everyone was great, and that included Coach Larry Brown. Dropping off to Flip Saunders (hmm, he seems familiar…) the following season, they were able to stay in contention, but were never able to take that next step to championship again.

Plus, I think having an elite defensive team and being in contention for a while will make you a more attractive FA destination. We could use the Pistons model to eventually move to a 2nd superstar model.

First 2 steps IMO, fire Ernie and fire Flip.

but he is not a SF

Maybe Booker can be our Corliss Williamson, and Yi can be our Mehmet Okur.

You don’t need to overpay for talent if you get the right players. Like the Pistons, we’re pretty set at the guards, with Wall/Young and Billups/Hamilton being fairly prototypical pairings. Sheed, Ben Wallace and Prince were all oddities in some way but they worked out well together. Sheed could jack up 3’s because Big Ben could get the miss, but they coudl both bang inside. Prince could defend stronger players because he’s so damned tall for his spot. They didn’t seem to get in each other’s way.

I think the problem with Javale is that he can’t play with everyone. He’s too tall to play the four, but he’s not a natural five. Another banger is going to clog up the middle, but a finesse player leaves us weak. I’m increasingly in the trade Javale camp because I think he presents so many problems for building a team, as talented as he is. Javale could play on a championship team, but I have no idea what that team would look like.

I see two general areas of weakness in our starting 5: (1) Low “basketball I.Q.” (Nick, Blatche, McGee) (or in Blatche’s case, if not low I.Q., then laziness) and (2) ineffectiveness defending and rebounding around the basket (Blatche, McGee).

Not that we have to replace all three players; it’s just the weaknesses that need to be replaced. So I think we could get away with trading out two out of those three, and if not replace them outright, then just move them out of the starting lineup.

Now comes the hard part: how to we get rid of two of them and get a decent power forward or center in return?? Nick is a problem because we have to re-sign him; but he is also our most marketable asset. If we can’t trade him now or do a sign&trade after the season, then retaining him means ditching the other two, imo. I say work on a Nick + Blatche/McGee, in return for a 4 or 5. And then use our draft pick on another post player. OR, try to get a great player by throwing in our unprotected first. That would be Nick + Blatche + unprotected first, for Kevin Love. Or some other real good player.

Ben Wallace was a franchise caliber low post defender & rebounder in his prime. Billups was one of the elite closers who could impersonate a superstar with his shot making ability at the end of games. Rip Hamilton was a very good regular season player who raised his level of game to legit all-star quality once the post season started. Rasheed Wallace was also one of the best low post defenders in the league and potential all-star who sacrificed his game as a 4th option. Do I even need to mention Prince and his elite defensive ability on the perimeter?

Detroit compensated for a lack of true superstar players by instead having world class defenders across their front line. Not only that, they had players capable of imitating superstars by being able to consistently make clutch shots at the end of games. The Pistons were built for the playoffs. Their defensive ability, mental toughness & b-ball IQ were unparalleled.

Adding 5 good starters into the mix and expecting us to duplicate what the Pistons accomplished is not realistic. The Pistons did it a specific way, we have nothing resembling what the Pistons have. Nick doesn’t show half the mental toughness or b-ball IQ Rip Hamilton had. And we have nothing at either of the three positions on our front line that resemble defensive competency.

Frankly were just as far away from adding two legit superstars than we are to adding 4 tough minded, high IQ, defensively competent starters to pair with Wall.

I think we need to recognize that John Wall might be the only legit piece to the puzzle that we have right now. Everyone else including Young, McGee, Booker & Blatche are spare parts that might be best used to help us get another legit piece or superstar.

I am not sure I would try to model the team after that Pistons team, however. The only similarity we have is Young and Rip and I think even that is over-exagerated a little bit. The Wizards need to find their own style. I believe the blueprint to follow is the Thunder’s way of doing it but it does not HAVE to be just like them.

The only 2 starters we have that are keepers are Young and Wall. I am not saying that I have given up on McGee because he is so young and I feel like players like him should not be completely judged until their 4th year. Look at Nick Young for example, a lot of us were ready to give up on him before this year and BOOM he explodes onto the scene. McGee has that kind of potential. His numbers have improved a decent amount this year and if he can become a 12 and 10 guy next year and become a smarter player he could be a potential long term starter. I think there is some validity to the argument that Blatche / McGee cannot co-exist. Regardless, McGee needs to be given one more year of development before we can accurately make a decision on him. I gotta say, however, I am not overly optimistic about Javale.

Blatche sucks. Please get rid of him. He is one of the only dudes I know who gets his team around 16 and 9 and still hurts them. I don’t understand what he is thinking with his new found behind the back dribble, it gets him in trouble every time. I don’t even mind his 15 foot jumpers that much when he is open because he can knock em down sometimes. When he faces up and tries to start dribbling it is horrendous. He needs to cut that shit out.. all he has to do is pump fake, take 2 hard dribbles to the basket and draw contact. If there is no shot after his drive he has the ability to kick it out and make a nice pass but he never does this so I shouldn’t be wasting my time on it. The only reason I can think of why we keep playing him close to 40 minutes is because we are showcasing him for a trade. I can see a team making a move for him by the deadline, I would love to pick up a late first rounder for him but that could be tough. I am rambling now.

Bottom line is the only guys who are worth keeping around on this team longterm are Wall, Young, McGee, Booker, and Seraphin (only bcuz we drafted him top 20). I like Kirk and Rashard but neither of them will be around after next season. If both of them are on the roster to begin next year I am okay with it but if someone makes a decent offer for either one of them this year I would be cool with that too.

Going into this years draft we need to take the best player available at the SF, PF, or C positions if we land in the top 5. Luckily the top prospects Terrance Jones, Perry Jones, Sullinger, Kanter, Derrick Williams, Harrison Barnes all fall into that category. The only player I see with superstar potential in this draft is Perry Jones. The rest of them, however, can be all stars.

…don’t trade a veteran (Lewis, Hinrich or Howard) for a warm body and a lottery pick.

I disagree. We don’t need all three of them. Rather, if we go into the draft with two lottery picks with lots of balls, we’re bound to get a Top 5 player and at least another good sub.

Add a new coach, and then next year would be a good year to build toward a three year journey to a championship.

Without a second super star, the odds of getting a champsionship with middling players are 1 in 50.

with this Top 5 pick. That will be a major determining factor as to whether we become an elite team. If we get a solid player, then we may just play ourselves into a situation where we’re a perennial 5-8 seed and never draft high enough to get a star. If we can draft a true stud to pair with Wall, the rest will fall in place.

Anybody notice how much better the defensive rotations are with Josh Howard in the lineup? He gets people in position and is the real QB of this team on defense. And he has a decent offensive game to go with it. He should be considered a major part of any Wizards playoff-caliber team scenario.

to nick young as more than a guy putting up empty scoring stats on an awful team.

i’d still rather slot him as a sixth man, but we don’t have the luxury of doing that.